Buzz Baits

[ncountry]

33 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Gotta remember with topwater to set on the pull and not the splash. Easier said than done.

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You got that right! .lol 

For years I thought I was too slow so kept on trying  to be quicker.. It's a game changer when you learn to pause for a second..;)

[Pygmy]

In 1962, on my first trip to Canada,  I asked the owner of the cottages where I was staying what he caught all his bass ( smallmouths) on... He had immigrated from GB  and had a very distinct British accent...

He told me he used  " JIT- er Bugs  and  OOLA poppers"..... He only fished at night...

[Lawdwaz]

10 minutes ago, Pygmy said:

In 1962, on my first trip to Canada,  I asked the owner of the cottages where I was staying what he caught all his bass ( smallmouths) on... He had immigrated from GB  and had a very distinct British accent...

He told me he used  " JIT- er Bugs  and  OOLA poppers"..... He only fished at night...

Fred Arbogast was my childhood hero. 

[wolc123]

53 minutes ago, ncountry said:

You got that right! .lol 

For years I thought I was too slow so kept on trying  to be quicker.. It's a game changer when you learn to pause for a second..;)

I have tried different speeds with hooksets on those weedless grass frogs in the thick weed mats.  It seems like some days, when they are real hungry maybe, they are easier to hook.  Most days, they just play with them.  

[ncountry]

5 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

I have tried different speeds with hooksets on those weedless grass frogs in the thick weed mats.  It seems like some days, when they are real hungry maybe, they are easier to hook.  Most days, they just play with them.  

Yeah, I've seen times where I wondered how the bass caught anything to eat. Seemed like they just plain missed the plug alot ..

[wolc123]

3 minutes ago, ncountry said:

Yeah, I've seen times where I wondered how the bass caught anything to eat. Seemed like they just plain missed the plug alot ..

I remember one of those “hungry” days, about 5 years ago, on a shallow weedy bay on the St. Lawrence.  My brother in law and I had kept 9  bass that morning,  on a deeper bay across the river.  I cleaned those fish when we got back to their cottage at lunch time.  

After I washed and put away the knife and other fish cleaning supplies, my youngest daughter was out on the dock and we heard screaming. She was about 12 years old at the time, had been trying to hook a can, that was floating on back of the weed mat, within a few feet of shore.

She had a push button zebco outfit with a bare jig head.  A 3 pound largemouth engulfed that jig right next to that floating can.  She wanted me to clean it for her, but I didn’t want to get the stuff dirty again for just one fish.  She continued to protest, so I told her to put it in my boat’s livewell and I turned on the aerator. 

I jumped in a kayak with a weedless grass frog on my line .  paddled over to the other side of the neighbor’s dock, and dropped that frog near the similar, west side, inside corner of that.  A plump 5 pounder swallowed it whole, gave me my limit of bass for the day, and reason to get the knife dirty again.  I think that might be the last bass that I landed on a grass frog.  I guess that’s what the pros call “pattern fishing”.  

[GreeneHunter]

Pics Dammit Pics !

[Otto]

I’ve got one tackle box at camp that is top water only.  I take that and 2 poles out at night and have a blast.  My two favorites are the Heddon Pop-R and also from Heddon the Spit’n Image.  Both are quiet, slow retrieve types of baits, although they can be fished aggressively too.  I like the slow pace and the the sudden eruption in the dark. 

I have a bunch of spinnerbaits and buzz baits, caught lots of fish on those too.  But I have not used them in a long time.  Maybe this summer. 

[J.B.]

Has anyone ever fished with a whopper plopper?

I picked one up last year and had a few great mornings with it.

[The_Real_TCIII]

I’ve got one tackle box at camp that is top water only.  I take that and 2 poles out at night and have a blast.  My two favorites are the Heddon Pop-R and also from Heddon the Spit’n Image.  Both are quiet, slow retrieve types of baits, although they can be fished aggressively too.  I like the slow pace and the the sudden eruption in the dark. 
I have a bunch of spinnerbaits and buzz baits, caught lots of fish on those too.  But I have not used them in a long time.  Maybe this summer. 

I love throwing a Pop-R at the wall in the small boat harbor early in the morning for smallies. I once had one break me off and the rest of the morning it was jumping trying to throw it. I felt terrible about that


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[crappyice]

Since we are on top water, I think I need to throw mouse flies at night at browns on the West Branch. I only tried it once on the Ausable and it was a disaster-too tight I got snapped it off in a tree on my third cast and went home!


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[wolc123]

3 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

I love throwing a Pop-R at the wall in the small boat harbor early in the morning for smallies. I once had one break me off and the rest of the morning it was jumping trying to throw it. I felt terrible about that


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Oddly enough, that happened to me twice, about 15 minutes apart, over this past Memorial Day weekend up in the Adirondacks, with 1/8 oz bucktail jigs.   I don’t ever recall smallmouth doing that before, so maybe it’s a spring thing.   
 

The first one (looked to be around 18” long), must have wrapped around a sharp rock and broke me off down on the bottom.  It jumped twice over the next couple minutes, trying to dislodge that jig.

When I tied on another, a few casts later, another one broke off rather easily down on the bottom, and then jumped 3 times.  My line must have got frayed up more than I noticed from the first one.  
 

They both looked a little longer than the 17 incher in the first picture (caught on my favorite smallmouth surface bait) but a couple inches shorter than the 20-1/2”  in the last picture.  I caught that one on my last 1/8 oz jig after making sure my knot and line were good.

 

A nice thing about them jumping, after breaking off down low, is that you are not left wondering just how big they might have been.  

[The_Real_TCIII]

I dont think its a Spring thing its a "i need this out of my face!" Thing


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[coonhunter]

I use the Pop R a lot in the low light times of day. It's probably my favorite and most successful top water bait.

[Arcade Hunter]

Jitterbug for me.  My favorite top water lure.  I have caught 22 LMB so far this year on the same lure.  I need to take more pics...

[BizCT]

Do they still sell BooYah's? My friend and I used to catch a ton of LMB everyday in the summer using them in unnamed ponds we could ride our bikes to through the woods.

[phade]

On 6/8/2022 at 8:09 PM, doebuck1234 said:

Funny thing is before I really got into fishing me and buddy used to walk a good stretch of black creek fishing with only spinnerbaits and buzzbaits($1 walmart specials!).we fished both underwater and no clue what they were but they caught us a bunch of smallies,rock bass and pike!!!!.chartreuse/white was the go to

Oddly enough I was thinking about a reply and it dealt with Oatka Creek, which along with Black Creek are neighboring watersheds. Buzz baits have proven to be the one lure that has allowed me to catch fish in stretches where they're not supposed to be. Oatka jumps back and forth into cold and warm water fishery, and using a buzz bait, I've pulled large and smallies out of the coldwater stretch where normally you'd find mainly trout. 

Those Walmart specials can do the trick. Strike King though definitely my go to when I'm on a dedicated bass trip.

[doebuck1234]

4 hours ago, Arcade Hunter said:

Jitterbug for me.  My favorite top water lure.  I have caught 22 LMB so far this year on the same lure.  I need to take more pics...

My PB bass was on a red and white jitterbug,love em!!

[Arcade Hunter]

17 hours ago, doebuck1234 said:

My PB bass was on a red and white jitterbug,love em!!

I have one of those, a few different size black ones and a few frog patterned ones.  Ive caught all of my LMB this year on my largest frog pattern.  Love it when they slam that thing